Unofficial news and tips about Google

April 30, 2006

Download Google Videos As AVI Files

Update (Sept. 2007): This doesn't work anymore, but you can still download the videos as MP4 by clicking on "Download for Video iPod/Sony PSP". After Google acquired YouTube, Google Video started to remove features and to morph into a video search engine.

If you want to save videos from Google Video in Windows and Mac OSX, you only have the option to download them as MP4 files, in a lower quality that's suitable for the iPod and PSP. Google removed the option to save the videos in a higher quality after closing the video store and discontinuing Google Video Player. But you can still save the videos as AVI files using a bookmarklet (a bookmark that only contains JavaScript code), as described below.

Make sure the link toolbar is visible in your browser. You can enable it if you go to the View menu in your browser, click on Toolbars and check:* Bookmarks Toolbar in Firefox* Personal Bar in Opera* Links in Internet Explorer

For Firefox and Opera, drag and drop the link below to the toolbar. For Internet Explorer, right-click on the link, select "Add to Favorites", ignore the security warning and choose "Links" from the list of folders (Internet Explorer no longer supports dragging bookmarklets).

Next time when you see a video you like on Google Video, click on the bookmarklet and save the video. Note that this only works for videos hosted at Google Video, not for YouTube or other third-party sites that are available from Google Video.

Because Google adds a non-standard header to the videos, not all players can render them. Some good applications that ignore the headers and play Google videos are Media Player Classic (Windows), VideoLan (Windows/Mac/Linux), MPlayer (Windows/Mac/Linux). If you want to remove the special header, so you can play the videos with Windows Media Player, try this small tool.

I can download the movies no problem as .avi.. they do not open to play in Windows Media Player.. they give me an error and do not have any additional info on the error.. I have K-lite codec pack installed as well as many other codecs.. anyone know what's going on?

This is lame. I clicked the link (called a bookmarklet) in the article and all I get is a message that says:"Go to Google Video to download videos as AVI"Besides I know what a bookmark is, but never heard of bookmarklet.Can anybody help with better explainations in this article?Thanks.

I went to the Google video (via the link). The video started playing. Then I clicked the bookmarklet link and did not get the download. Instead just got a pop-up message as before "Go to Google Video to download videos as AVI"... And the Google video was playing at the same time. I think maybe this is not a cross-platform solution? I tried with Windows + Fedora 4 and Firefox, IE, Opera. All say the same thing. I phoned a friend up, and he got the same result using Windows on both IE and Firefox...Can anyone shed light on this? I'm sure other people out there may have the same issue?

Actually, downloading video files from Google Video is extremely easy for Windows users, and there's no need of no bookmarklet or nothing -- not even the Google Video Player.

1. Get to the video you want to download.2. Click on Download Video; this will probably ask you to download the Google Video Player, which you will not accept.3. A download link for the .GVP file will appear, click on it and download the .GVP streamer file.4. Open the .GVP file in any text editor, preferably one that supports UNIX-formatted, ANSI-encoded text.5. You will see that the file contains several plain text fields, i.e. GVP version, duration, title, description, and the most important of them all: url. Copy the value of the URL field and paste it into your browser -- it'll automatically ask you to download the source file, no matter the format it was uploaded in (i.e. MP4, AVI, MPG, MOV, et cetera).

Great tips. The bookmarklet tip works and the instructions by DominicanZero work. Now I believe these are flash videos aren't they? How come they're saving as avi? Not that I have anything against .avi or anything but I opened it up in Divx player and the video was very washed out compared to the one on the page. Does anyone know what are the reasons for this?

I dont want to download a google video , just get audio. I am trying to watch the interviews with television pioneers on the Archive of American Television.I get picture but no audio. I have countless players including Google and have audio seemingly everywhere but on these google videos. Am I missing a codec? Is there a logical explanation? Am I a Fool?. Any help please.

About the whole not playing in windows media player thing... although the avi file uses the standard divx codec, Google changed up the headers so it trips Windows Media Player. I wrote a small program that strips the extra information and reorders the headers.

if you cant get it to work, first go to the page of the video you want to download... then paste the code (righ click, slecet copy) from the "bookmarklet" into the address bar of that page, you should have a download pop up.....

i dont think its really an avi though, just a google GVI file with the extension changed to avi... i can only get it to play in the google video player...

still a useful trick as i can now donwload directly thru internet explorer

Ok, I get that they're mpeg4 encoded. I also understand how the bookmarklet works. What I don't understand is that it won't play in Windows Media Player. I've got DivX6 which is backwards compatible w/ DivX5 and DivX4. When I drop an avi from google video onto gspot , it reports the file as 'DivX 4 (OpenDivX)' and that 'Codec(s) are Installed'. This says to me that WMP should have no issue with playing the file. what gives?

Can someone please convert this gvp for me so i can play it in Windows Media Player. I tried everything on this forum, but nothing worked, sorry i aint a computer guru like all you guys here.... can someone help me. Here`s the link:

help! I downloaded a google video converted to .avi, but, like some of the people above, it won't play in windows media player. I can't download media classic, because I need it to play in standard Windows Media Player. I've already downloaded a Divx codec pack, no joy. What else can I do?

Awesome program!!! If you want to actually edit or convert some of the video you find on Google, just go to this forum and it shows the way to do it. And if anyone has a better program than SUPER (because there area few things I don't really like about it), please e-mail me at kentdoddsproductions[at]gmail.com

FOR THOSE OF YOU HAVING PROBLEMS PLAYING:- I reccomend using Media Player Classic- You need an MPEG4 Codec (I reccomend a codec pack like K-Lite, Godian Knot, etc)

If you have done the two previous steps, and still can't play videos (output filter not found or something of the sort), do this (in Media Player Classic):- View menu- Options- Internal Filters (on the left)- Under Source Filters (on the right):- check AVI (and maybe MP4)- restart MPlayer and try opening your movie again

Answer to the questions, What are bookmarklets? and How do I make a bookmarklet in Internet Explorer?

1. What is a bookmarklet?

A bookmarklet is a page that runs a javascript that does something cool that you want done.

You save that page as a bookmark (in Mozilla based browsers) or as a favorite in Internet Explorer.

Then, when you click on the bookmark or favorite link, it runs the script for you.

2. How to save a bookmarklet in Internet Explorer:

First you need to know that newer versions of Internet Explorer aren't really happy about bookmarklets and won't let you drag and drop them as in the past and won't let you run some. But this one will work.

Here's how to save it:

a) Rightclick on the link to the bookmarklet in the article above. Choose "Open in New Window."

b) Internet Explorer will pop up a warning. Tell it to go away.

c) Click on Favorites in your menu bar, and add the bookmarklet page to your Favorites menu. Give it a name you like, such as Download Google Movies."

How to use it?

When you find a movie you like, go to Favorites and click on the bookmarklet link. It will run the script and you should be taken to a download dialogue. You probably know what to do from there...

FOR THOSE OF YOU HAVING PROBLEMS PLAYING:- I reccomend using Media Player Classic- You need an MPEG4 Codec (I reccomend a codec pack like K-Lite, Godian Knot, etc)

If you have done the two previous steps, and still can't play videos (output filter not found or something of the sort), do this (in Media Player Classic):- View menu- Options- Internal Filters (on the left)- Under Source Filters (on the right):- check AVI (and maybe MP4)- restart MPlayer and try opening your movie again

Firstly, the vexed question of bookmarklets. These will ONLY work under Windows XP; they do not work under Windows 9x/ME.

Secondly, the problem with playing .avi files in Windows Media Player. Google's .avi files have a non-standard file header, so that they won't play in popular media players such as Windows Media Player or Winamp. This is to try to force you to download the Google Video Player.

To play a Google .avi file in any player, edit the file with a hex editor (I use XVI32.exe) and delete the first LIST block in the file header. This starts at byte 12 (000C hex) and ends at byte 63 (003F hex); it is 52 bytes in length.

Thirdly, note that the quality of the .avi files is greatly inferior to the quality of the .mp4 files (and the Flash video .flv files). The very best quality is in the .mp4 files; they are slightly better quality than the .flv files, but there's not much in it.

Finally, Goole's flash video files. The Google web page displays a flash video (.flv) file in a supported browser (e.g. Internet Explorer). The browser automatically caches the file as it plays, and it can be retreived from the browser's cache once it has fully played. In Windows the cache is located at "C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files".

The flash video file is in Macromedia Flash format. You must have the Macromedia Flash plugin installed in your web browser (the latest version is called Adobe Flash Player 9).

To play unmodified Google .flv files, download the free Wimpy flash video player from http://www.wimpyplayer.com/products/wimpy_standalone_flv_player.html

The MAIA codec pack can be downloaded from http://www.geocities.com/xkodi/xkodi_pack/MAIA_pack_v1.0.rar.zip

Bear in mind that unmodified Google .mp4 files will not play in Winamp or Windows Media Player, so in order to test whether installing the codec pack has worked you must install the hacked Media Player Classic from http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/media_player_classic_for_win98_me.cfm (that page has links for versions for Win9x/ME and for WinXP).

However, if that codec pack doesn't work on your system then install ffDShow from http://www.free-codecs.com/FFDShow_download.htm

Remember to play the .mp4 file with Media Player Classic, because unmodified Google .mp4 files can't play in Winamp or Windows Media Player.

Thanks heaps for the tips. Some great vids to download and not have to use the google player. You say that the flv and mp4 files are a better quality than the avis, is there any way of using the script to download either of those formats. Thanks in advance

LOL @ the user saying "this is lame, all I get is a message saying go to google video"when I click the link. Thats because YOU are lame dude, you don't click the link, justbookmark it, then go to it so the code is in your address bar. Copy that code, pasteit into notepad, save that as a text file, making sure the code is all on one line(turn off WordWrap in Notepad!) there it is, now just go to google video and paste thatcode into the address bar and hit go... voila - you get the dialog box to save theAVI file, whoever made this java workaround deserves a medal, its great!!

if ya wanna make ure life real easy, first just go here http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php it is a plugin for firefox that allows saving of vids from lots of sites including google and youtube. then either use jet audio fre version plays google vids and flv player for the flv files or download vlc for all play, its all free and easy :) i like easy, its like lazy

thanks a lot dude....i had downloaded two files in .avi format from google videos....but they were not playing in real player or winamp or win media player.........but when i searched for the solution to this problem and visited ur blog...then according to ur advice i downloaded win media classic.....and for my surprise its working fine without any problem ....thanks man ;)

This link was working fine for me for a while... but all of a sudden, it stopped working, and when I go to a video and then click the link, the pop-up tells me to go to google video, even though I am already there.

Other video downloading apps are not as good, because they download the lower quality .flv files, and not the high quality .avi files.

Does anyone know what the problem is? COuld google have caught on and changed something?

Turns out that videos downloaded from Google Video actually have a slightly modified header that prevents them from playing in Windows Media Player or anything that relies on the Windows Media Player engine.

I was looking for a program that would simplify the whole header modification thing. Didn’t want to be going through notepad or a hex editor every time I downloaded a video.

I came by the Naevius GVI converter and tried the demo… it’s a rip off program, it uses VirtualDub to actually do the converting, but from what I’ve read, it’s only about clipping that header. On top of that, Naevuis is charging $20 after the trial expiration… that’s crazy.

Anyways, then I found a program called GVideoFix. It seems to be doing the header clipping thing because it does the “converting” super quick and doesn’t use VirtualDub or anything like that.

What caught my interest was the extra features you get by buying the *GOLD*. I was a bit weary though, no trial version of those features is included, you kind of have to trust it; but hey, at least it's not $20, it's a bit more reasonable. I bit the bullet and paid for it and I can say the features work. It associates with gvp and gvi files so everything becomes one-click converting and one-click download/convert from Google website. The developer is really helpful in responding on the support forums and he told me that the next version (I think it's 2.5) is going to have batch downloading features for Google Video and it'll be a free upgrade for those that have already purchased the extra features.

Not true, Peter. It works fine, just that there are videos that can't be downloaded (you must pay for them or their author decided to disable downloads). You must see the blue "Download" button in the sidebar to know if a video can be downloaded.

first of all, there is alot of redundant questions on this blog, read the entire blog before posting a question.i see the same thing over and over, such as "why won't the .avi play in windows media player" when the post directly above states that google videos will not play in windows media player, unless you remove the header that prevents wmp from playing... read the entire blog!!!

also alot of false information such as .mp4 being better quality than .aviquality/filesize is directly related to the codec used and the bitrate at which it is encoded, not the container.also that .mp4 and .avi are a "format" which they are NOT! .mp4 and .avi are "file extentions", and also "a/v containers" NOT A FORMAT.mp4 and .avi have there own compliant a/v codecs, see doom9.org goto the glossary section and read it.

also alot of posts telling people to convert .avis to another format, all google .avis are playable in media player classic, there is no need to convert(recompress or reencode is the proper term). recompessing results in loss of quality and possibly increased file size. if the .avi is not playable in media player classic, then you don't have the proper codecs installed. use AVIcodec to see what codecs are used.to get google .avis to play in windows media player and all other media players, open the file with VirtualDub (available in downloads section of doom9.org ) , in vdub goto video> check direct stream copy (not full processing) then goto file> save as, this will copy the avi without the header that prevents wmp and other players from playing.PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE BLOG BEFORE POSTING QUESTIONS!!

first of all, there is alot of redundant questions on this blog, read the entire blog before posting a question.

You're overreacting. This post was edited a month ago to include better information. I also answered the question about gvi files not playing in WMP, because many people were asking.

I wouldn't say it's redundant. I created this post a long time ago to show you a simple way to download the videos from Google. Without installing extensions or visiting external sites (it's not necessary to do that).

People had the videos, but couldn't play them in their favorite player because Google decided to add a non-standard header. While you can use Media Player Classic or VLC to play those videos, Windows Media Player refuses to play gvi files. So you need to remove Google's header in order to play the files in almost any player (assuming you have the DivX codec).

1: what exactly am i overreacting about? my post mentions absolutly nothing about ".gvi files", only .mp4 and .avi2: definition of redundant: The exact same data stored in more than one location. such as 12 counts of the question "why won't .avi play in windows media player" within this blog3: google.avis are not restricted to the divx codec, playback requires only the .avi compliant codec at which it was encoded. as google videos are uploaded from users, the codec needed depends on what the user had encoded with. definition of Codec: encoder/decoder

Does this work using IE7 under Vista? I installed the bookmarklet as instructed, but nothing happens when I click it while watching a Google video. If I click while NOT on a Google video page, I get the appropriate error message - otherwise it just doesn't seem to work.

I need a video for a school project, but none of them will work with MOvie Maker! What can I do? I've tried multiple methods of downloading and none of them have worked. The project is due soon. Please tell me if you have an answer.

- If you get an error when importing the video into Movie Maker, you may need to download some codecs. Install ffdshow and make sure "ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder" is enabled in Tools/Options/Compatibility (Movie Maker).

I just want to jump in and post my success. I tried the bookmarklet and that worked fine, and I used the VLC media player to view, but still couldn't watch in Windows Media (never tried classic). I followed JLM's advice posted last year and downloaded his program which is very easy and simple to use. However, when trying to view video in Windows Media I only got sound, and upon his advice on his support page, I then installed DivX and now everything works great. Thanks!

I need some help here:I downloaded this one video off youtube for the purpose of importing it into my windows movie maker program. It all worked out fine i converted it into avi format and it plays fine on windows movie maker, but when i try to import it into windows movie maker it says:

"The required codec was not downloaded automatically because the Download codecs automatically check box is not selected in the Options dialog box."

I always use the "iPod/sonyPSP" option to get an MP4. I can use this on my computer. Ionut, have you ever used Super to encode Audio and video files?: http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.htmlIts my favourite. Its hard to find the download page so i will put it here: http://updat.free.fr/9ABEA2F2BD850403098DB4FF/SUPERsetup.exe

Im sorry for being so thick but I have opened the Google file in word and found the start of the url code but how do i know where it ends? I have tried several variaions but not getting any where. Im not getting asked to download it when i paste into explorer so Im not getting it right.

<< I have opened the Google file in word and found the start of the url code but how do i know where it ends? >>

You downloaded the gvp file that's only a wrapper for the real video. A .gvp file looks like this:

# download the free Google Video Player from http://video.google.com/gvp_version:1.1url:http://vp.video.google.com/videodownload?(...)docid=383231378223541436docid:383231378223541436duration:3535169title:Authors@Google: Steve Wozniakdescription:Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak discusses his new book iWoz as part of the Authors@Google speaker series.

You should copy the long text similar to the one in bold and download that file. It starts after "url:" on the third line of the .gvp file and continues until the end of the line (I removed some characters because because the URL was too long).

I downloaded the AVI file and when I try to play it in Media Player I get the following message: "Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file."

I also downloaed the DIVX program put that does not seem to help. When I try to use the video in my Sony Vegas Movie Studio I get the sound portion but no video portion.

What am I doing wrong. I need to get this video made before our Memorial Day Sunday Service!

Theodoros Plakadopoulos has signed up already. Yall might know him better as TPlay. He played himself 2 years over at UTEP. He was also one of the ones on the Greek Streetball team that handed AND1 its first international loss. .

Go to the forum pagelink in kent dodds comment..[Kent Dodds said on August 21, 2006 10:31:00 AM PDT:] ...in the new forum page scroll down until u find the comment where it talks about 'GVideoFix'...and it gives u the link to download the programme

Download ur gvi..video... after installing GVideFIX (free programme) just add ur downloaded gvi to it...and it will do the rest for you... after its finished converting look for it in the folder u directed it to be saved in...and u should find the converted avi file of it... this works on normal windows media player...and then u can use other programs such as WinAVI video converter to change it into dvd file so u can burn it XD...

Thank you for the lucid instucs; followed them and got what I wanted. Haven't tried the header fix yet and I do get the same error trying to play the avi in WMP 9.0, not that I would use that EVER in place of VLC or MPC 'cept I wanna send some of this stuff to less-than computer geeks. Anyway, they play fine in those two latter proggies so thanks so much and keep it up.

I is a great thread for info about downloading the videos from google. but I am having a different problem I'd appreciate if anyone can help me.thing is I am in China and I can not even play google videos online.Every time I try to play a video I get the message

"Thanks for your interest in Google Video.

Currently, the playback feature of Google Video isn't available in your country.

We hope to make this feature available more widely in the future, and we really appreciate your patience."

So is there any solution for this problem If anyone know then mail me on challs442@hotmail.comThanks in advance.take care.

Hi whenever i click my video google button when it's attached to Firefox an error shows up saying DDL loading error : SSLEAY32.dllPlease help me send me an email of what to do pleaseTidas121@hotmail.com

I cant download videos more than 5 minutes or of more duration .. it starts downloading perfectly well and without completing the full download firefox tells me the download is completed .. i get the same thing no matter how many times i try ..

Can you help? I get the message saying 'You are not at Google Video or the current video cannot be downloaded'. I know the bookmarklet is probably not designed to get this video, I thought you might know another way ?

@AnbarasuFor downloads that stop early, you can still download them with google video player and resume them.Make a new text document and copy and paste this between Start:: and ::EndStart::# download the free Google Video Player from http://video.google.com/gvp_version:1.1url:docid:duration:title:description:::EndNow use keepvid to get the url of the video you want and copy the shortcut and paste it where it says url:Copy and paste the docid number to where it says docid: (include the - if it has one)Copy the len= number from the url and paste it where it says duration:The title: is the title of the video and the description: is where the description from the video goes.Save it as whatevername.gvpNow when run it will create the .gvi file in the download folder for google videos as usual.It worked for me when a video download kept stopping after 1 minute.

OK ... This is new that they won't let us download these vids anymore.Can someone please tell us what we need to do to download them now?Is there something, relatively understandable, for those of us with IE? Guess we need to learn a new method...can someone please help with this?Thank You!!!

Google Video recompresses all videos into 320x240 resolution Adobe Flash files with a bitrate of 450 Kbps to ensure reliable streaming. The download resolutionis 480x360 at 800 Kbps. If you upload your video in any other aspect ratio, Google will apply a letterbox format to your content to fit within the 4:3 frame.

The specifications below are useful to get the best quality while keeping a reasonable file size:

I uploaded the videos to Google Videos then I lost those videos in my computer, I want to get those back. I contacted Google folks, they never respond my emails. MP4 doesn't work for me. How do I get wmv files back?